A new high-performance liquid chromatography method for the quantitative determination of ethambutol hydrochloride in combination tablets is presented. Ethambutol is derivatized with phenylethylisocyanatate at room temperature (22 +/- 2 degrees C) for 5 min. Separation is performed by a C(18) column using methanol-water-glacial acetic acid (70:30:0.2, v/v/v) as the mobile phase. The method is linear for drug concentrations in the range of 20-120 microg/mL (r=0.9995). The intra- and inter-day precisions are lower than 1.46% and 2.22%, respectively. The average recovery of the samples at three levels is 99.8%. The results show that derivatization of ethambutol is stable at 30 degrees C for 24 h. This method is simple, rapid, and stable in the presence of common excipients and antituberculosis drugs in the tablets.